Analog monosynth with fast envelopes: Pulse 1, Pulse 2 or other

[Arrested Developer]

Hello,
i'm looking for a monophonic analog synth with extremely fast envelopes and a profound bass spectrum.
In my search, my favorite so far is the Waldorf pulse.
I've seen that there is some controversy on which of both models sounds better; while there are lots
of youtube videos of both, i found no really direct comparison.

Besides the fast envelopes a really good bass region would be important which shines on subwoofers (it's for
the cinema).
Are there alternatives in that price segment that are better?
(the moogs would be over the top...)

[Shy]

Pulse and Pulse 2 have DCOs, not VCOs, and digital, not analog envelope generators. If you want an analog synth with fast envelopes, which sounds very nice (and you know, very "analogish") and usually costs much less than a Pulse 2, try MS-20 Mini. Some very different features, different stuff possible with its patching capability.

Pulse 2 has the most features and it's a very nice-sounding synth but it usually sounds and behaves differently from classic subtractive synths. Its oscillators have artifacts that are most audible when there's little filtering, and there's no way to avoid this, so when you make a basic, common sound like this, you can't avoid that "screech", which doesn't exist with VCO-based synths (and "virtual analog" synths). So while one synth may have features another doesn't, it doesn't necessarily mean it will give you the sound you want with the same settings, even when it comes to very basic patches. Of course, you may actually want the quirks and not the more typical sound.

[Arrested Developer]

@shy: thanks for your rating. I used to have a ms-20 (the old one), but tbh i didn't like that one...
And the fact that the analogue oscillators are digitally controlled, is also no issue.
What's important is the weight in the bass range and snappy envelopes.

[Shy]

You could also check Minitaur, which is especially good for bass, and has good envelopes. (see this, this, that). Simple, no multiple LFOs etc., but filter and VCOs tuned especially for bass, and it's the only hardware synth I've ever seen that got a hard-sync feature with a firmware update (although you have to use the software editor for that).

[Arrested Developer]

wow, somehow the minitaur wasn't on my radar...
it sounds gorgeous.
thanks for mentioning it!

[Chopper]

The minitaur is indeed what you are after. No disrespect to waldorf (i love the blofeld!!) But the pulse is a bit blend in the bass and snappiness department. Not bad, just not the first go-to...
Oh, and as much as i worship the ms20, the envs are not exactly snappy...

[zerocrossing]

Might want to look into the Minibrute as well. Really fast envelopes. It's only issues for me was its lack of a second oscillator and the metalizer and Brute factor were a bit ugly sounding. If you avoided those it was capable of some really great tones. I bet the Matrixbrute is going to become a classic.

[himalaya]

Not sure about the Minibrute. There are a couple of things that do not make it the best choice for a bass-only synth, especially if it's your only one. Firstly, it's 2-pole filter will not give you some of the deeper bass sounds you may want. Secondly, the way the oscillator is designed, you will struggle with mixing the waveforms to get a 'thicker' tone since there is a point in the mix settings where the waves will cancel out.

This oscillator is similar to the one in Roland's vintage SH-101, in that you only have one oscillator but with freely mixable waves. On the SH101 it allows to get some really huge sounds. On the Minibrute, it doesn't quite work like this and you will experience phase issues when mixing waves (at certain settings).

If you your budget was bigger then I'd look at the Studio Electronics Boomstar range. The 5089 is especially powerful in the bass department but it can do everything else you'd want out of a subtractive synth. For bass you get a huge range of colours due to the extensive oscillators. Also, you get saturation in various parts of the signal chain so you can add subtle or not 'drive' to make the sound extra 'plummy'.

[samsam]

Pules 2 gives me HUUUUGE bass and snappy envelopes. Awesome synth.

[sin night]

The Minitaur has the most weight in my opinion and it's my first choice for basses, with Pulse 2 being my second one (but I rarely use anything else but the Minitaur for this task, even though the Pulse 2 comes with some very good bass presets).
The Minitaur has a limited extension and it has other limitations, so it's a good choice if you're looking only for bass sounds (it's a very specialized synth), while the Pulse 2 has more features and can do more sounds.

The envelopes are pretty fast both on the Minitaur and the Pulse 2. The MS-20 Mini envelopes sound slower to me. I built a few YUSynth's adsr (they are a classic design based around the 555 timer) and I feel those are even snappier (but keep in mind I changed some values to enable even shorter times than the default ones, which are pretty fast by the way). The MiniBrute envelopes, from what I found online, are based on that design, so they are probably quite snappy (I don't have one, I have a MicroBrute which I think it uses a software envelope, so I can't comment on the MiniBrute).

I can't say anything about the Pulse 1 because I never tried one.

In my opinion, if you're looking just for the deepest bass then consider the Minitaur, if you need an all-around synth then look at the Pulse 2.
Or just get both

[Arrested Developer]

Thanks for all considerations!

In my opinion, if you're looking just for the deepest bass then consider the Minitaur, if you need an all-around synth then look at the Pulse 2.
Or just get both

Getting both would be my favorite variant too, i agree

An aspect that also influences my thoughts is the fact that i have a sherman filterbank 2, which usually is extremely dominant in mixes. My instinct says that the pulse could be a better contrast.
(the microwave 1 used to be superb in dense contexts, it had a certain "bone-dry" quality).
Damn, it's really tough to decide...

[Ingonator]

I would mostly choose a Pulse 2 (love it...) but i was one of the origonal beta testers and factory preset designers so i am a bit biased...

Concerning DCOs there seem to be different ways how it is implemented in different synths. In the Pulse 2 a combination of discrete analog SMD circuits (no 1 chip design) and control voltages (via a digital/analog converter built in with the CPU) seem to be used. In the Pulse 2 there also seem to be differences in the different waveforms concerning how far the CPU is involved with them.

The Audio path including the built-in Drive that is located directly before the outputs seems to be fully analog while modulations indeed seem to be mostly created by the CPU (again via control voltages created from a D/A converter in the CPU) and are not fully analog.

[chk071]

I'd get the Pulse 2 too, because i'm a big fan of the Waldorf sound, and it seems to have the best sound quality/bang for the buck ratio of the analog synths in that price range.

Personally, i'd rather get a Blofeld though, for even less money.

[Ingonator]

It als depends on the feature set you use for which mean s if you need a simple bass synth or synth with many features taht is very versatile.

In that respects there is hardly a synth that could replace a Pulse 2 including software synth. For exampßle it has 3 Oscs with multiple waveforms, PWM, Osc Sync, FM, Filter FM, a multimode filter (24dB LPF, 12dB LPF, 12dB BPF, 12 dB HPF) with Waldorfs own discrete cicruits design (except a few standard transistor arrays which are not "1 chip" designs), 2 enveleopes, 2 LFOS, analog drive with 2 modes, an arpeggiator and a mod matrix with lots of options.

Not to forget the paraphonic modes (modes with and without a built-in unison) where you could play polyphonic patches. A real polyphonic synth could be created by chaining multiple Pulse 2 units (i never tried or have seen that myself).

Besides that the synth is quite cheap for what you get, quite small/light, has USB and 500 patch memores (all could be overwritten) and some other stuff. Third party editors like e.g. "MonstrumPulse" are available too.

Here is a link for te MonstrumPulse editor:
http://www.monstrummedia.com/product/pulse/

[fluffy_little_something]

Maybe there are polyphonic synths that also have mono modes and cost little more than a dedicated mono synth.
Polyphonic doesn't mean it has less bass...